Many people find spiders quite scary, in fact I also find them a bit scary but then again I also find them extremely interesting and fascinating. A few days ago I was sifting through the internet when I came across an interesting topic as to whether all spiders spin webs?
Well apparently not all spiders have the ability to spin webs; therefore in order for these spiders to survive they have to use other interesting tactics to catch their prey. This includes the Wolf Spider that stalks and pounces on its victim like a cat and the fascinating Trapdoor Spider that lives up to its name by making a home beneath the ground where it hides. This spider is an expert digger itself and builds a burrow using a rake-shaped mouth-part. The disguising entrance of the burrow is sealed with a cork-like trap-door made of soil, vegetation and silk. The spider spends its days just sitting under the trap door, holding the door shut with its claws and wedging its body against the wall. The spider detects the prey by vibrations and, when its prey comes close enough, the spider throws open the door trap, leaps out of its burrow with lightning speed to make the capture and then drags the insect inside. The door then slams shut behind it.
Trapdoor spiders are generally medium-sized, hairy, and harmless. They also use their trapdoor to hatch their young lings. The baby spiders will reside there for two to three weeks, before they go away and burrow and make their own trapdoors. Although not all trapdoor spiders burrow in the ground, some will construct a tube of silk with a trap-door in bark crevices. Regardless of, the trapdoors are camouflaged extremely well and are very hard to see.